The looming spectre of differential tuition

Someone can do the relatively simple accounting and see that the humanities–”majors without an immediate job payoff”–are already subsidizing those which have a “job payoff.” In fact, this was already done at few institutions, including UCLA.

But this is a case where Regents & state administrators simply do not want to listen to the numbers because they are too busy running circles in their epistemic closure.

Students who go into science, technology, engineering, & mathematics (STEM) programs or into business/finance go into majors that cost far more than humanities classes to operate.

Humanities courses are not revenue neutral: they MAKE MONEY. The professors are paid less than those in STEM or in business. The classes do not need special equipment or laboratories.

Another issue is that the governing board continues the fantasy that ANYBODY graduating from a university these days will get a “job payoff.”

History professors at the University of Florida think their courses are plenty valuable, but they don’t want them to be among the most expensive. And they are organizing to protest a gubernatorial task force’s recommendation to charge more for majors without an immediate job payoff — a recommendation that the historians fear could discourage enrollments.

History professors have organized a petition against one of the more controversial recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform: differential tuition that could be punitive to the humanities. They’ve garnered more than 1,300 names in a week, including those from places far beyond the Sunshine State.